Pedestrianism

22 - ANCIENT GYMNASTICS. wasnot a G YMNASIUM , or school of exercise^ maintained at the public expense. The G YMNASIA were spacious buildings, of a square or oblong form, surroundedon the outside with piazzas, and containing in the inside, a large area where the exercises were performed. Places for trainingin badweather —porticoes,baths, chambersfor oil and sand, with grovesof trees, and seats,orbenches,en­ compassed the stadium. The internal struc­ tureof these edificeswas adaptedto the con­ venienceof thosewho frequentedthem, either for exercise or for pleasure; and they were the resort of rhetoricians, philosophers, and menof learning, who here readtheir lectures, held theirdisputations, andrecited theirseve­ ralproductions*. The moral and political influence of the Olympic games was acknowledged by the legislatorsof Greece ; and accordingly, they were encouraged and protected by laws so * Theodes of Pindar, which havebeen handeddown to us, were made for these occasions. strict.